Kids and money

[eirual]

DS has two piggy banks: spending and saving.

Here's my question. What exactly is he saving for? I see saving as for waaay down the road on a rainy day. Put it away and just don't touch it. Would you agree? Maybe I need a 3rd sinking piggy bank for sinking money for things like a dog....money that's being collected but will eventually be spent.

How do you manage your kid's money?

We're putting away college funds and planning for his future, I'm not talking about how we prepare for DS's future, but the small stuff- money that is DS's. The $8 of birthday money, the $2/wk allowance, etc.

[hillymum]

We put the birthday checks in bank account to save and hae told the boys when they need to buy a car that money wily l go for that. The weekly alowance is saved for more costly toys/games such as DSi games, or holiday spending money. I generally have said they will be throwing money away if the use it on impulse buys. Out of three kids, only one feels that money burns a hole in his pocket.

[honeybunmom]

My daughter is 4 and my son will be 1 on Friday. My daughter has a couple of cd's my mom has given her (and I expect she will do the same for ds). Those are being saved for spending money in college, or, if something equally important in terms of our family values comes up, it may be used for that purpose. The piggy bank is saving "just because" - really to learn the value of saving and paying yourself first. Not to buy something in particular.

When I started babysitting at 12, my mother took 1/2 of my earnings, matched them, and put them in a money market account. I would have liked to have used that money for spending money in college, but, it needed to be used to put toward my first semester of college. And since my mom paid for all of my tuition otherwise, I can't really complain. The other half was mine to spend as I chose. I expect to do the same for my kids assuming I'm still working.

[onthemove]

both my kids have bank accounts which they have decided are to buy there first house. my older dd (almost 10) does the jar system at home where she writes what she is saving for on the outside of the jar. their rule is anytime they recieve a chunk of money (over $20) it goes in the bank, allowance and smaller amounts go in their jar or purse for spending.

[AAK]

My kids don't actually get a lot of money. They do have a small allowance. They have gotten pretty good about making thoughtful purchases. I am proud of how they have handled it. However, they do have a savings account. Larger sums (Christmas, or if the allowance pot has grown quite large) go into the savings account. They know that it is still their money, but that it is for "bigger" purchases. Right now, they would have to get parent approval before using it. We have told them that bigger purchases could be. . . a car, a house, college, OR even maybe they will be an active participant in something that they will need some of their own money for. As an example, when I started skiing, my parents shared the cost with me. . .if I hadn't a saving account I wouldn't have been able to do it. My girls right now like to think they are saving for a horse.

Amy

[dachshundqueen]

The day they break one of your windows. I thought that was a farce, until my brother sent a tennis ball through my dad's sun room. Not pretty.

Liz

[moonlitemama]

When I started giving an allowance a couple of years ago, I had the boys split their money (birthday, allowance, Christmas, etc) four ways - Long term savings, short term savings, charity & spending. There was a certain amount they needed to put into each account and the balance they could divide as they wished. After a bit, they each got bank accounts, which have sub-accounts for each division.

Now, I don't enforce the amounts they put in each account - they decide for themselves & they do pretty well at it.

Long term savings is for stuff like a car or college or a home. Short term is for big ticket items/toys that they want to save up for. Charity is for whatever cause they decide on (in the past they've chosen to sponsor each other in school fund-raisers (read-a-thons, jump-a-thons, etc) where the money went to a national organization. At Christmas they were looking seriously at Heifer International, so I think that may be their next choice.